1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an image processing system for executing image processing, and more specifically to an image processing system configured to provide a client device with a preview image.
2. Background Art
Generally, users want to look at a printing preview of a document/image before the document/image is actually printed out by image forming apparatuses. In response to this demand, a variety of apparatuses have been conventionally proposed.
For example, Japan Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2005-242814 discloses processing for displaying a printing preview result on a display unit (i.e., a liquid-crystal display (LCD)) provided in a multifunction peripheral (MFP).
Furthermore, Japan Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2005-275849 discloses processing for extracting strings from obtained image data with optical character recognition (OCR) processing and simultaneously editing the extracted strings in an MFP.
According to the above-mentioned publications, a user is required to approach the MFP to confirm visually a preview screen of an image to be printed out. When plural users want to confirm the printed image simultaneously, or when a user wants to perform other operations with the MFP, the MFP is not capable of concurrently executing a plurality of tasks for meeting the users' demands. Consequently, it has been difficult for the conventional image forming apparatuses to enhance a user's working efficiency.
Accordingly, aspects of the present invention have been created to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the conventional practice, and to produce an image processing system for allowing users to refer separately to a preview image.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved image processing system. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.